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Elingamite

Elingamite is a rural locality 7 km south-west of Cobden, western Victoria. It is situated where the western plains are joined by the once forested hilly country of Cobden and Timboon. It was named after the lake, a few kilometres westwards, and the name is thought to be of Aboriginal origin. The Elingamite pastoral run was taken up in 1845.

As the western plains soil was fertile and the rainfall reliable, settlers came into the area in the 1860s, removing good millable timber and developing small farms. A school was opened in 1874. The opening of the railway through Elingamite in 1892, from Timboon to Cobden, provided better access to markets for dairy produce and timber.

Lake Elingamite became a popular swimming, fishing and picnic area during the 1890s, and remains so for Cobden people.

Elingamite’s census populations have been:

census date

population

1911

162

1933

139

1947

218

1961

213

Further Reading

J. Fletcher, The infiltrators: a history of the Heytesbury 1840-1920, volume 1, Shire of Heytesbury, 1985

J. Fletcher, And we who followed: a history of the Heytesbury Shire 1971-1987, Shire of Heytesbury, 1987